Prince Philip death: Elton John claimed late royal once dubbed him ‘a bloody fool’ in awkward exchange

Interaction between pop star and Duke of Edinburgh occurred in the Seventies

Adam White
Sunday 11 April 2021 10:43 BST
Comments
The moment the BBC announced Prince Philip had died

Elton John once claimed that Prince Philip had dubbed him “a bloody fool” and “the bloody idiot” over his choice of vehicle.

In his 2019 memoir, John recalled meeting the late royal in the Seventies, shortly after the singer became the chairman of Watford Football Club.

“We were making polite conversation, when he suddenly changed the subject,” John wrote in Me. “Philip said: ‘You live near Windsor Castle, don’t you? Have you seen the bloody idiot who drives around that area in his ghastly car? It’s bright yellow with a ridiculous stripe on it. Do you know him?’”

John awkwardly fessed up that the owner of the car was actually him, but clarified that the Duke of Edinburgh “didn’t appear particularly taken aback by this news at all”.

John continued: “In fact, he seemed quite pleased to have found the idiot in question so that he could give him the benefit of his advice.”

Philip allegedly snapped back at John: “What the hell are you thinking? Ridiculous. Makes you look like a bloody fool. Get rid of it.”

John had painted his Aston Martin yellow and put a red and black stripe down its middle, to signify his long-time support for Watford and to mirror the team’s trademark colours.

“I didn’t realise how much attention it had attracted until I was introduced to Prince Philip,” John added.

Elton John and Prince Philip

The Duke of Edinburgh’s death was announced on Friday (9 April), with Buckingham Palace confirming that he had died “peacefully” at Windsor Castle.

Amazon Music logo

Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music

Sign up now for a 30-day free trial

Sign up
Amazon Music logo

Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music

Sign up now for a 30-day free trial

Sign up

The BBC came under fire shortly after the Duke’s death, with the corporation opening up a special complaints line over their wall-to-wall coverage of the news.

The BBC and ITV both cancelled their Friday night schedules to cover Prince Philip’s death, with BBC Four being entirely switched off in favour of a blank screen urging viewers to turn to BBC One for a major news report. Viewing figures for the BBC and ITV dramatically collapsed as a result.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in